Jared Fogle Sentenced To 15+ Years In Prison In Child Sex Conviction
Nov. 19 2015, Updated 5:17 p.m. ET
Ex-Subway pitchman Jared Fogle was sentenced to 15.6 years in prison Thursday in an Indianapolis court, after pleading guilty to charges of child porn possession and sex with minors.
When Fogle was asked by presiding Judge Tanya Walton Pratt if he understood the charges he had been admitting to, he responded, "Yes your honor, I do."
While the deal had a preliminary range of 5 to 12.5 years, it was at the judge's discretion to increase the sentence — and she did by more than three years. Fogle's legal team has sent experts to the stand to testify that his sexual perversions could be tied to his dramatic weight loss, to no avail; and that he suffered from "mild" and "weak" pedophilia.
Fogle later said Thursday, "I so regret that I let so many of you down … I want to redeem my life. I want to become a good, decent person. I want to rebuild my life."
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Fogle and his legal team worked out the plea deal in August, in connection with illicit sexual conduct with a minor and child porn possession and distribution.
The 38-year-old earlier told the court that he exchanged child porn with his former foundation head Russell Taylor, who produced some of the videos personally, and acquired others from Eastern Europe. He also admitted to having paid sex with underage girls on at least two occasions.
"Fogle has sacrificed absolutely everything he had built -- including his family -- to engage in sexually explicit conduct with two minors," prosecutors said in court docs. "He emboldened a molester and a producer of child pornography."
Fogle has agreed to pay more than $1.4 million to his victims to a total of 14 victims, and will have to register as a sex offender, as part of his plea deal.